Wanted: County Manager

(#290) – Job Description. She or he shall be entrepreneurial, committed to sustainable economic development, expert in energy financial markets and experienced in renewable energy production.

Advantages of the Sullivan County Manager position include: competitive salary; live and work in one of the most beautiful, healthy and ideally located areas in the United States; strong local financial sector; a built environment that is compara- tively free of major industrial and social barriers to a sustainable economy; local government and population ready for engagement in sustainable economic development as the design for their future.

If the reader of this advertisement and this column take a closer look, they will see the merit of this opportunity. Finance is the key to large-scale projects. Like energy, it is the power to get things done. There is plenty of local private and commercial finance. Many ways of engaging general public investment in sustain-able economic projects are available and local household and business subscription could be $500,000,000 or more. Current local purchase of harmful, inefficient fossil fuel energy substantially exceeds this amount although energy expenditures and their impacts of other costs and quality of life are ignored in almost all economic development studies. Additional finance is available through local government bonding and the special powers of our economic development agencies.

Local utilities will be getting a lion’s share of this money for energy infrastructure repair. The employment of a County Manager with financial and energy market experience could provide the kind of leadership that forms an effective collaboration with the utility companies in designing the character of the billions of infrastructure installations. Locally sited energy production, not nearly so dependent upon extremely vulnerable and inefficient power lines could be jointly financed, but locally controlled.

Solar, wind, water and geothermal resources are already here. There is almost no delivery charge compared to current energy bills where the delivery charge is larger than the actual energy we consume. Most of this energy is fossil fuel based and we have the science to prove this is very destructive of health, is far more expensive then renewable energy and energy efficiency, and threatens the future of our way of life within a few generations. Local energy production will keep several hundred million in the local economy where the positive local multiplier does its magic to bring prosperity for the entire population. Additionally, the costs of travel, operating our homes and businesses and government decrease significantly, our health improves, tens of millions are saved and good jobs multiply.

We know the places where the natural energy resources are most productive. We already own them.

Developing these resources would invigorate our educational system, end the scourge of poverty which remains a hidden travesty in our communities and cut the cost of governmental assistance.

The reason casinos and gas drilling make such headway with our leadership is that local government and the general population do not take responsibility for economic development as a first priority of self-governance.

We are a beautiful, wondrous place that millions will comes to see for their benefit and ours. To protect it from being spoiled and leased to outsiders who do not have the essential sense of belonging to this place requires a serious proposal like that advertised at the head of this column and commitment by local sources of power and wealth to prioritize sustainable economic development.

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OUR MISSION

Sullivan Alliance for Sustainable Development (SASD) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit based in Sullivan County, New York. Our mission is to promote a new standard for mindful development that is environmentally responsible, socially equitable and economically just; to inspire the residents of Sullivan County to embrace the principles and practices of sustainability as personal and civic values; and to make energy efficiency and renewable energy accessible for all.